New York’s summer splendor: Hotel Majestic’s roof garden (1903)

The Hotel Majestic’s Roof Garden

For those who remain in New York during the summer season, and for many visitors, the Hotel Majestic has for several years been a delightful resort.

It is situated in one of the best residence parts of the city, at an entrance to Central Park, and is easy of access from the railroad stations, steamboat piers and the shopping district.

The Majestic is an attractive house at all times of the year, but it is additionally so in the summer, because of its beautiful roof garden. There, the guests of the hotel congregate on warm evenings, and with the beautiful panorama of illuminated New York at their feet, with delightful music to charm them and a corps of well-trained servants to wait on them, they forget that they are in New York and that the weather is warm and sultry.

The roof garden is constructed of steel and iron and is 500 feet above the sea level. It is arranged as a rustic palm garden, covering the entire roof, an area of 30,000 square feet. There being no obstructions from any point of the compass to intercept the breeze, one may find a cool nook on the Majestic roof when the weather is hot and uncomfortable even at the seashore.

A new feature of the roof garden is an electrochromatic fountain. The charming view from the great elevation, the refreshing breezes, the good music and luxurious surroundings have made the roof garden of the Majestic one of the summer features of the city; but in order that only the guests of the hotel and their friends may enjoy the privileges.

Copeland Townsend, the popular manager of the hotel, has instituted a system by which admission may be gained to the garden only by card or invitation, and the gatherings there in the evening resemble social entertainments.

The hotel itself, on the block from Seventy-First to Seventy-Second Street, fronting Central Park West, is modern in every detail of architecture, and its management has always endeavored to make it a home for those who are guests there. While this has been accomplished, the demands and requirements of the transient guest have not been overlooked, and the people who come for a day or those who engage rooms for a year are equally well taken care of.

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